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Galactic Nexus/Episode 4: Chasm of Stars and Hearts
Chasm of Stars and Hearts is the fourth episode of the first season of Galactic Nexus. Story so far "As inscribed in the prophecy, a young man named Frisch Celerent walks on a path where the future of being the ruler of time and space, the Harvester, awaits him. Indeed, they were assailed by the revived Phage of Phages: Verzleinir. But how was he revived? A mystery indeed. But now that it's out of the system, he has dealt fatigue to the three Mobians. Against our foe, they have to step up their game. Otherwise, they will face demise earlier than the others. Fortunately, the Harvester has decided to shape them into fine warriors for their very sake. A noble deed as expected. But... what is this I sense? An anomaly has manifested close by. Such marks the third page of the history of the Harvester in another realm." — Irissia Roleplay "We play this the easy way or the hard way snake," Bakuu snarled as he drags his claws on the wall of the interrogation room, "I want to know where Serpina and my siblings are, you're going to tell us one way or another." Jack, Patricia & Layla were seen resting up to regain their energy, feeling like they need to take themselves to the next level, while figuring out what is a weakness to their foe's gelatinous form from earlier & while taking a breather. Jack checks on Blaze the Hedgecat to see if she is doing ok, while he ponders on the future powerful enemies, feeling like the worse is yet to come. Meanwhile, Frisch and Seele were outside the camp having a conversation while the Mobians were taking a rest. "I wonder when we can return to Crystialga..." Seele spoke. "... In time. We just need the means. Which means we have to save Cerelise." "Right. We need to gather the others though... wherever they are." "... Heiz, my younger brother... I hope you're safe," Frisch contemplated. "But, y'know, Frisch?" Seele gazed upon his eyes—with hues identical to hers. "Looking at the bright side, we're both here... together. I believe fate prevented us from separating, of all people." "... Hm? I'm not sure. It might just be on a whim. The anomaly is indiscriminate." "But still! I believe..." Seele insisted, though gladness filled her heart that moment. Without delay, she faced him completely. "Frisch... I...!" Before Seele could speak further, they were interrupted by the noise of a commotion. Seems it was regarding Freedom HQ. Layla notices the alarm going off & said "Guys, someone's trying to break into Freedom HQ!" Jack asked "Why now? We're exhausted already after a serious fight with that gelatinous guy." "I suppose there's no rest for the weary. Hopefully the Freedom Fighters will be alright. We don't know if it's Eggman Empire/Egg Army or something else entirely." Said Patricia, wondering who would attack Freedom HQ & why. "Agh, come on..." Seele murmured as she was put off by the sudden commotion. "... Hmm... Were you trying to tell me something?" A rosy tinge washed over Seele's cheeks. "Y-You heard nothing from me! Let's head back inside!" And just like that, Seele ran off to check on alerts inside the heart of the camp. Frisch shrugged. "... Whatever you say..." He followed suit, though in a slow, relaxed pace. Bakuu continues to pry for information from the Serpenten but his efforts are fruitless as the scout refuses to utter a word pushing Bakuu's level of patience to its absolute thinnest. The alarms of Freedom HQ would continue to blare for a few more moments before... it stopped? Why would it stop in the middle of a supposed attack? This was getting stranger and stranger by the minute... Jack, Patricia & Layla looked around with the group, while Jack stays near Blaze THC, wondering on what just happened. "Wait, what just happened?" asked Layla with a lot of confusion. "This is more stranger than a Kraken in the deep blue sea." said Jack, while understandably confused, scratching his head wondering why the alarms have stopped all of a sudden. "What's going on here? Hello? Freedom Fighters? Is everything alright in there?" Asked Patricia, while searching through Freedom HQ for the freedom fighters, being mindful of her energy with Jack & Layla, while staying close together with the rest of the group. Frisch let out a soft sigh. He had no plan on joining the Mobians into the headquarters but he was moved by his concern upon them, knowing they have not recovered enough to fight back against anyone of Verzleinir's caliber. Also because Seele insisted he goes with her... even though what happened was allegedly a false alarm. "Ehh, this place is gloomy... Where are the people anyway?" Seele asked. "... From the looks of the lack of company, anyone could have disabled the alarm system," Frisch answered. "... They must be locating the perpetrator right now." But for some reason, even though the two could easily find the culprit within seconds, they were not using their powers as of the moment. What's with them? While the group were searching through the HQ for whatever the hell was going on, they would come across something... it was one of the supply closets. Only this one had its door knocked straight off its hinges and it was against the wall. Not only that, but it looked like somebody made a bit of a mess. Frisch was likely the most observant out of the group. Even that did not escape his eyes. Seeing a supply closet, especially an empty one, in such a state while the friendlies were away searching within the intact building was... peculiar. "... I found a peculiarity over there," he declared, pointing at the broken closet. Darkstorm looks at the closet with an eyebrow raised. Jack, Patricia & Layla peeks inside, trying to figure who's invading the Freedom HQ, while wondering about the broken closet, they're examining for evidence. "Who would break in a base of operations like this? This is confusing." Said Jack. "I know what you mean" said Patricia, agreeing to that statement. "Can't specify to be a false alarm or something else mysterious." said Layla When they were examining the broken closet, they may notice yet another strange peculiarity... the closet door was broken off from within, and not the outside. Not to mention the mess, which looked like someone tried to climb on the shelves only for it to break and drop all of its contents. Very strange indeed. "Wait, it was broken from the inside? How?" asked Layla, wondering how the intruder got inside in the first place, while checking for more clues on how the intruder got inside the closet & broke out of it. It seemed even if they would be checking for clues for god knows how long they'd intend for, there was no implication as to how they got inside. It's almost as if they just appeared here from thin air. "Even I am skeptical about how they got it, its almost as if they're like ghosts, spirits or have advanced teleportation powers unlike anything we've seen." said Patricia, trying to figure on how the intruder got in. Darkstorm sniffs it activating the wolf spirit. Frisch and Seele did not seem to be actively participating in their activity for strange reasons. However, their naked eyes were vigilantly observing the vicinity. "If it is destroyed from the inside, then why would a spirit need to do so when it can just phase through?" Seele asked with a smug face. Of course, she is a user of spiritual powers—she apparently knows spirits more than everyone in the group. "... Advanced teleportation, you say...?" Frisch noted. "... But if the perpetrator has that power, they would not need to bust the door open... which brings me to a conclusion." Darkstorm looks to him, "Someone wanted us to find this?" "... No. The reason is—" Darkstorm's smell could make out... well, something. A kind of fabric used for clothing. Could be useful if he can manage to locate the trail. Though just as they were getting a lead, things suddenly got more difficult. Literally before Frisch could finished his sentence, the lights suddenly shut off, one by one from the halls. Did... did a power outage just happen? "... Tch. Seele." "I got you." Upon those words, the small area they were in was somewhat illuminated by the light show of their transformation. Now the radiance went out as only stripes of turquoise could be seen in the dark. Frisch furrowed his eyebrows as he used Prismatic Eyes. His vision changed from partial darkness to a mystic space full of structured codes, in which he could bypass to locate the perpetrator. Darkstorm looks around but can't see, "WOLF SPIRIT!" "Ok, which one of you shut off the lights?" asked Jack, wondering what caused the power outage. "From what I'm guessing, it could be the intruder. But why would it want us to find him or her?" asked Patricia while she casts a purple orb to cast some light with Layla's help with her lunar orb she coasted as well. "Whoever you are, we ain't got time for your games. We're in the middle of the Hollow Empress situation, so please come on out & show yourself." said Layla, feeling like the intruder is either playing games with them or trying to make them figure out who he or she is. "Great, now we need to find the fuse box in this place. Sonic, Sally, Tails, Amy, Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor, Nicole & the others showed us where it is. If only we know where to find it in the dark. Blaze THC, can you please help us out here?" said Jack while trying to find the fuse box to the power generator to try and get the power going again. "I expected him to list down more people but okay..." Frisch thought. "And the fact that they still use fuse boxes means they are not as advanced as we thought... And also... Why the hell are they talking loudly in the middle of the dark?" Frisch could easily spot the intruder with his vision, which they seemed to be on the other side of the headquarters - only just having left the area where the fuse boxes were. Though since they were on the other side of the base, they didn't respond to Layla. Guess they were gonna have to do this the hard way. At least for someone who's not Frisch or Seele. "... Mm-hm..." Frisch mumbled audibly. "... Prepare yourselves." Jack, Patricia & Layla found the fuse box to the power generators in the next room, while Patricia checks the advanced power generators which is powered by power rings & electricity. "Alright then. Let's see if we can fix it before we get back to Frisch & Seele." said Patricia while noticing the wires to the main power supply were cut, while doing her best on carefully swapping out the main power wires with the backup ones to switch it to the backup power generator. "Whoever this intruder is & why he or she want us to catch him or her, is becoming very crafty as well as sneaky. With the Freedom Fighters busy fighting Eggman, we're on our own til they get back." said Layla. "Hopefully the Freedom Fighters will realise the situation as much as we do." said Jack, while waiting for the backup generators to power up the Freedom HQ. While Patricia was checking the fusebox… they weren't just cut. They were completely ripped out from their circuits. Not only that, but the box itself looked damaged too. It was possible the fusebox was FUBAR. As for the main power generator, they may also noticed it was tampered in some way. Visibly it looked just fine... but for some reason, it wasn't wanting to work. So now they have two problems: a possibly beyond-repair fusebox and a malfunctioning generator. Whoever was inside this base... they were pretty crafty as well as smart. Unbeknownst to the Mobians, Frisch was also observing them from afar, thanks to his Prismatic Eyes. Seele was viewing the intruder from afar by disregarding physical obstacles and target the source of the life-force... At least if the intruder was not a robot. Frisch let out a soft sigh. "... I'll have to buy a circuit breaker for this..." Jack, Patricia & Layla came back to Frish & Seele, felt a bit annoyed & a bit disappointed that the intruder is too crafty for their own good. "No good. The power generator's down too. The intruder has tampered with it too." said Jack, explaining the bad news. "Now it seems like we can't even figure out why the intruder cut off the power? Hes either ghost, Spirit or has advanced technology. But why?" asked Patricia. "Maybe he or she doesn't want to raise any alarm. So we're back to square one if he or she is gonna keep playing us like toys, a child's play thing. His or her antics is gonna stall us from preparing ourselves against the Hollow Empress." said Layla, having just about enough of this intruder's antics. Seele would indeed be able to detect the perpetrator, implying the individual was living. What she and possibly Frisch may see was that the person... was getting closer to the base's main entrance through another route. What could this mean then? "... Prism Shift: Reinflamme," Frisch muttered. Reddish orbs surrounded him in a vortex of golden flames before dissipating, revealing the Harvester's raiment laced with bright red lines. He snapped his fingers—six golden fireballs illuminating the way. "... Return to the main entrance," he instructed, leading the way back to the main entrance with Seele by his side. Jack, Patricia & Layla nod as they head out, following Frisch & Seele to the main entrance as well, staying close to the two with Darkstorm, Blaze THC & the rest of the group. While.the group were heading back to the main entrance, Frisch and/or Seele may notice the perpetrator had stopped suddenly, before moving away from the entrance. They probably saw the light being illuminated by the fireballs and tried to gain some distance. "... As expected..." Frisch flicked a finger toward the direction of the intruder as the fireball glided under his commmand. It stopped above the perpetrator... if they were still on the ground. "... Show yourself now. Otherwise, the fireball will make you..." Darkstorm's arms spark with lightning while Blaze THC's hands ignite in flames. "... Everyone, stand by." Frisch walked towards the perpetrator with an unshaken gait. "... This is my second warning. Show yourself now or the fireball will make you." The fireball grew in size, exuding a bit more heat than usual. It was itching to burn anything it touches but was only shackled by the Harvester's will. Jack casts large Water orbs in his hands, while Patricia & Layla cast their purple & lunar magic orbs as well incase the intruder doesn't want to cooperate, awaiting Frisch's command. Frisch can see with his eyes that the perpetrator had stopped moving, possibly reluctant or even frightened to reveal themselves. While they weren't willing to approach the group, at least they weren't trying to run away now. Guess the hunters had to catch the trapped prey. Seele could sense the fear radiating from the figure's soul. "Hmm... Frisch, I smell fear. They flinched." Frisch nodded subtly as he spotted the perpetrator hiding behind a stack of crates. His helmet dissipated into fluttering Prismions, revealing Frisch with a mellow expression. Strange. He would have been hostile but, for some reason, he was not. Why? The others might wonder. And he proved how his soothing turquoise gaze washed over the figure—he outstretched a helping hand to them. "... Fear not," he assured. "... You will be fine." Frisch would find that the figure wasn't just hiding behind a stack of crates - they were sitting against the wall, their legs curled up and their arms wrapped around them. Their head was buried in their knees, and they seemed to be trembling a little. When he stood before them, they raised their head a little to glance up at Frisch. He could see the person's face and head - judging from their peach skin, it was clear they were human. And a female no less! She had brown hair with black streaks, what looked to be a cowlick on the top of her head, side-combed fringes at neck-length that were spiked up on the ends, and black ruffled bangs on her forehead. When she saw Frisch's hand move they flinched, averting her head to the side quickly as if expecting him to hurt her. When she didn't feel anything though, she slowly turned her head back to look up at him. It was then he can look at her eyes, a cyan color on the right and a red color on the left; a sign of heterochromia. Though he could see that she looked really nervous, which probably explained why she hadn't grabbed his hand yet. Patricia tilt her head to the side a bit, a bit confused on what they found, she seems to be very timid & shy when they first found us. Slowly standing down, Patricia make her magic orbs disappear, feeling a bit sorry for the timid girl, while slowly extending her hand to the timid, showing compassion to her, hoping that she learns that we didn't mean no harm, since Patricia has been learning a lot more of compassion from Yuki the Hedgecat, long ago. She speaks in a more hush & quiet tone, whispering to the young girl. "It's ok..." Jack & Layla see what Patricia is doing & slowly standing down as well with Darkstorm, Blaze THC & the others, when they saw Patricia is showing her kindness & compassion to the timid girl. Darkstorm walks over and kneels, "What's your name little one?" Frisch closed his eyes for a bit, took a faint yet deep breath, and blinked a few times, doing what seemed to be maintaining his composure. What are these people doing to her all of a sudden? They don't truly understand. "... I said, 'Stand by'," he voiced out to them in a stern voice. "... Did I say something else?" The "young girl" would be looking at all of them at once and... yeah judging from her face she didn't look comfortable at all. In fact now she just tried to back up more, except she couldn't since her back was already faced the wall - so she buried her face in her knees again, hoping they'd just go away. Wow, this girl isn't really good around people. All the more reason Seele did not join them. She knew Frisch had everything in control... but these people did not know better. In fact, she let out a soft sigh. "What are we going to do with them...?" she thought. Darkstorm puts up his hands defensively while glaring at Frisch and trying to maintain his composure, "It is an honest question. For all we know she could be lost," he says backing away from the situation, "Also I do not need to state this we have an army of Naga's regrouping and prepping a counter-attack as we speak, her safety must be our concern." "Darkstorm is right. Please be nice. She must done it out of self defence, she is scared & all alone out in this big world. Please give her a chance, Frisch. For all we know, how do we feel if we're in the same situation as her?" asked Patricia. "Both Darkstorm & Patricia have a valid point. She maybe another person from another alternate world." said Layla, while also being a bit defensive, since she had dealt a similar situation before in the past. "Why y'all being so dumb towards Frisch?" Seele, now full of their crap, has started showing a bit of her bad side. If they would look at her, she was folding her arms in disappointment. "Honestly, Frisch already had this handled but you guys are getting in the way. Back off and don't swarm the girl, for Aeter' sake! Look at what you guys are doing! You don't need a big brain to realize that, don't you?" The "young girl" would hear all of their bickering and couldn't help but glance over to Seele when she had to call the others out, before back up to the others. Judging from her nervous expression, Seele probably wasn't wrong. However, Jack deeply offended from the comment with the others, is not taking this lying down. "Are you saying we're all stupid? We already got pummelled by a literal slimeball. How are we suppose to know if we're facing new threats we don't even understand. You don't have to rub it in." Said Jack, while feeling a bit of a rough Ogre form voiced tone before returning to normal. "All we want to know is why would the timid girl would do such a thing. I couldn't help it when I have a heart of gold in the past. And besides we're all losing focus. We may not have to agree anything, I get it. We'll follow you for now, But you don't have to be stern about it." Said Patricia while keeping quiet, thou feeling a bit insulted from the commet as well. "Fine. We'll keep quiet. But we're gonna need a long talk after this." Said Layla while she, Jack & Patricia stand down, even thou they are just trying to help, while Layla crosses her arms, feeling a bit crossed, thou waiting for Frisch & Seele & the timid girl to do next. Seele seemed... unfazed. She had dealt with similar reactions from oddballs before. In fact, she found it hilarious that they'd get offended by that one fact, and she found it natural in insecure people. "Ehh? Struck you first time that you were dumb? Tch. You think you guys are perfect? Well, say what? Far from it! If you weren't being dumb right now, I wouldn't have pointed that out." "... Seele, enough," Frisch tried to silence her. "... You can be a bit too outspoken—" "Why not?!" she retorted. "You're our acting leader, and now you're just gonna ignore their arrogance? What the hell? They just have to back off and let you handle this! Do I really have to get the fact that swarming her like this is bad through their thick skulls? Goodness, their shallow minds piss me off!" Frisch let out a soft sigh. Here they go again... "... Let's talk about this later. Right now, we really need you lot to step aside, if that was not clear before. The lady needs space for just one person." Frisch squat down and looked at the lady with soothing eyes. "... I apologize in behalf of my group for making you uncomfortable. You can rest easy." Again, he outstretched his hand to her. "... I am Frisch Celerent. Your name, milady?" While Frisch speaks with the timid girl, Jack crosses his arms, while remembering his flashback of insecurity of being in Sonic's shadow for many years, since his first fight against Eggman, Jack feel like he hasn't had any friends back then, until he meet Patricia, Blaze THC & even Layla & Darkstorm in the past. Jack whispered quietly to Seele, "Your right about us being insecure, Seele. Because I'm always in my cousin Sonic's shadow since first battled Eggman & won, ok? He spends less & less time with his family & rather spends time with his friends. I am lonely..." said Jack, sharing his past memory of loneliness when Sonic is been visiting less & less in the past due to Sonic's new Hero status. Patricia whispered quietly to Seele, also adding in "And before Jack & I met, I thought this world is happy, but they don't take too kindly to Skunks like me, due to my natural Skunk scent. People take one look at me and 'Ah, help run! It's a stinky skunk! Don't let it spray you!' Before I met my friends, people judge me before they meet me. Even I thought I was gonna be alone with my mother & sisters as my only company." Said Patricia who had tears dripping down of the past memory of people running away from skunks like her. "And I used to be all alone too, very shy with no family. But my first meeting with a young Patricia when I was a little girl changed all that at first, but when it comes to connections of a darker power that my family & I have been living with, let's just say that my family is cursed to have dark magic in the past." Whispered Layla to Seele as well in a quiet voice, not wanting to be reminded of her cursed bloodline that drove her to villainy in the past. Whoosh, came the whistling breeze. Silence saturated the air as Seele was processing what they just said. Evidently, she could not understand how they were just playing the insecurity card now—in fact, she was squinting her eyes in confusion. "What... did I just listen to?" The timid "young" girl had buried her face again in her knees, with her arms wrapped tightly around her legs. She had became even more frightened from the sudden outburst by Seele, and thus was vastly uncomfortable. But then Frisch gave his apologies to her and she'd glance slightly up at him again. She saw his hand stretched out to her, though was too nervous to grab it. In regards to her name though, she was silent for several seconds before she raised her head a bit more so her mouth wasn't against her kneecaps. "...J-J... Ju... Ju-Ju-Julia..." the girl spoke in an overly nervous, shy tone of voice. There was also that stutter... though that might be because she's so timid, so perhaps it'll vanish... or will it? "... I see. Would you like me to accompany you outside? I wager you need some fresh air." "U-U-Um... su-su-sure..." Julia said nervously. Okay, that stutter's probably going to remain indefinitely then. "Frequent stuttering... She probably has emotional trauma. She needs a bit of therapy in her life." "... Very well. Would you like to hold my hand then?" Frisch stil had his hand outstretched towards her, inviting her to hold it. Julia glanced back to his hand and stared at it for a bit. Eventually, she slowly and hesitantly went to grab it. Frisch helped her stand up with a gentle grip. "... There, simple. You don't have to gang up on her." He walked past them. "... I'm afraid whining time is over. I'll have to whip you lot into shape before the Hollow Empress comes." From his words and stature, he exuded a vast amount of experience despite his young looks. Besides, he knows the Hollow Empress more than anyone in the group. Without him and Seele helping them, they would not even stand a ghost of a chance. Seele perked up to him despite the tense atmosphere. "Ooh hoo, nice. How about the lady?" "... No need. She needs far more care than a whip. She's distressed enough as it is, more thanks to you." "Na—?! And now it's my fault...?!" "... You defended me too much. Let's just go and settle the battle of lips somewhere else." As Frisch began to walk out of the headquarters, Seele followed hurriedly, pouting her lips in slight disappointment. "Frisch, you dummy..." she thought. Julia stood up on her two feet, thanks to Frisch's help. It was then the others would see she isn't a "small girl" - in fact she looked to be in her early twenties, and stood at 5'7". Her clothing could be made out too - she wore a black overcoat over an orange shirt, a black skirt with two horizontal red stripes, and finally black fingerless gloves and combat boots. Strangely there was a bit of a lump underneath her left sleeve. The nervous girl, or woman as we should say, would hesitantly follow along with Frisch while looking away from everyone else and with her hands clamped together on her upper chest. She winced a bit from the sudden raise of voice from Seele, which made her feel a bit more uncomfortable. Regardless, she continued to follow the two outside of the headquarters. Darkstorm goes off to meditate to mull over his actions as of late, perhaps his fatherly instincts and worry for his missing children are kicking in hard now that the Serpenten War has spread right into his friends home and now the tension is really trying to tear everyone apart. Blaze rubs Jacks shoulders while purring to him, "Something doesn't feel right. Darkstorm and his family is on edge and not to mention quick to action." Jack is a bit scared with Patricia & Layla, but then when feeling Blaze rubbing Jack's shoulders, he sighs & cuddles the Hedgecat gently when he calmed down & said "I guess your right, Blaze. Maybe it's because it has something to do with his past about his family Instincts." Layla turned to Seele with a cheeky grin around her face & said "Jealous much?" "This Hollow Empress situation is driving us apart & we barely scratched the surface. Maybe we are destined to die". Said Patricia while she huddled into a ball in a frightened position, feeling the loss against Verzleinir is getting into her head. "Everyone, relax. We're all not thinking clearly. And Patricia? Unless we can pull off the impossible, No one is going to die!" said Jack before turning to Patricia, before helping her up. After the bickering, they seem entirely shaken, what with the thoughts of the Hollow Empress haunting them even in their dreams. And now Verzleinir suddenly toyed with the Mobians to break their resolve with his sheer power. What was going to happen to them? It was yet too early. They have to regroup as soon as possible, or else Mobius and its inhabitants would be the first to taste doom in the Void. Meanwhile, in the interrogation room: Bakuu rubbed his chin before grabbing his helmet and heading to leave the camp. It would seem he had finished with interrogation... Was he successful or not? Only himself knows, really. To be continued in the next episode...